This invention relates to an interactive electronic game apparatus arranged into a portable substance by application of, for example, a microcomputer, and particularly to an improvement in a rearing simulation apparatus wherein a virtual character representative of an animal or a plant (hereinafter referred to as an virtual living thing) is presented on the screen of a display unit, and a player who has perceived a state or a request of the virtual living thing on the screen operates an input device to apply the so-called xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d to the virtual living thing, thereby carrying out simulation of the rearing stage of the virtual living thing which receives the xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d.
A conventional rearing simulation apparatus of this category is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,646 in which as an operation for the so-called xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d, administering elements, for example, such as, xe2x80x9cwaterxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9clightxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cmanurexe2x80x9d, are administered to an virtual plant on the screen of an output device by the administering operation in an input device, and every time an administering amount of every administering element increases to reach a predetermined amount while keeping good balance, the growing stage of the virtual plant on the screen advances by one stage to display an image of the virtual plant in the next growing stage in place of an image of the virtual plant on the screen in the rearing stage at present. However, in the rearing simulation apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,646, a sole image of the virtual living thing is assigned to each of a plurality of growing stages, and the advancing on the growing stages is carried out in a manner such that in place of an image of the virtual living thing peculiar to the growing state at present, an image of the virtual living thing peculiar to a next growing stage succeeding the growing stage at present is selected, as a consequence of which with respect to a plurality of images of the virtual living thing connected to a single thread through a plurality of growing stages, an image of a next growing stage solely decided succeeding the image of the growing state at present is uniformly selected. Accordingly, the number of categories of the images of the virtual living thing through all the growing stages is,linked with the number of the growing stages, and categories of a variety of images at every growing stage are not prepared. Therefore, the development of the rearing simulation as a game is monotonous, likely resulting in a problem of weakness in a feeling of satisfaction in tastefulness in terms of a game.
In view of the problem of a feeling of satisfaction in tastefulness in terms of a game based on the aforementioned background, a subject of this invention lies in that one category is selected out of categories of a plurality of images of a virtual living thing lodged in a next rearing stage (hereinafter merely referred to as a category) based on the metamorphosis requirements depending on the state parameters of the virtual living thing to promote the virtual living thing to the next rearing stage to thereby solve the aforementioned problem, and the number of categories of the virtual living thing throughout all the rearing stages is increased in a large scale to variegate the game development of the rearing simulation, thus enhancing the satisfaction of a player in the tastefulness in terms of a game.
A further subject of this invention lies in that a xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter representative of a degree of the xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d by a player with respect to the virtual living thing and a xe2x80x9ccharacterxe2x80x9d parameter which increases and decreases depending on the xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter are introduced, the virtual living thing announces for itself the operation requests of the predetermined items such as xe2x80x9chungerxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cdispleasurexe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9csicknessxe2x80x9d depending on the xe2x80x9ccharacterxe2x80x9d parameter; and similarly, an xe2x80x9cmetamorphosisxe2x80x9d parameter which increases and decreases depending on the xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter is introduced to change, the requirements for the metamorphosis depending on the xe2x80x9cmetamorphosisxe2x80x9d parameter to facilitate the selection of a variegated and unexpected category out of a plurality of categories in the next rearing stage, and the requirements for a veiled rearing stage are introduced as singular requirements to enable selection of a veiled category which is few and far between, as a category of the next rearing stage whereby a generic character of the actual living thing is expressed emphatically to characterize the virtual living thing as being in nature xe2x80x9cfriendlyxe2x80x9d in one aspect, and xe2x80x9cwilyxe2x80x9d in the other aspect to a degree that could not be characterized by the background art to make the tastefulness in terms of a game.
Another subject of this invention lies in that all or a part of categories in all the rearing stages from an egg are replaced with another set of categories all at once in advance depending on the data of an egg of a virtual living thing received via a communication network to enlarge the range of the selectable categories at every rearing stage, and the data representative of a category at every rearing stage of the virtual living thing can be transmitted and received as the data on the virtual living thing via a communication network, whereby the range of games is enlarged over the communication network to secure the unexpectedness of development of a game to a degree that could not be secured by the background art, thus making the tastefulness in terms of a game further rich.
According to a first aspect of this invention in order to solve the subjects as described above, the invention of claim 1 is claimed. The invention of claim 1 is constituted such that as shown in FIG. 1 corresponding to the claims, a state parameter processing means A increases and decreases the state parameter based on elements fluctuating chronometrically by means of a timer in connection with the state parameter representative of a virtual living thing and elements fluctuating in operation properties in connection with the state parameter responsive to operation responsive to the request by a player and when a predetermined state parameter meets the predetermined requirements for an operation request, an operation request processing means B displays a predetermined item of the operation request before a player, and when the age for promoting a category set peculiarly relative to the category of the virtual living thing at every rearing stage and representative of a retaining period for one category has elapsed, a rearing stage processing means D selects predetermined one category out of a plurality of categories lodged in a next rearing stage based on the metamorphosis requirements depending on the state parameters characterizing the category in the next rearing stage to promote the virtual living thing to the next rearing stage, and a rearing state display means E displays a value, at that time, of the state parameters designated by a request operation for displaying the rearing state, or an image of the category in the rearing stage at that time, in response to the request operation for displaying the rearing state by a player.
The invention of claim 1 is further constituted such that as shown in FIG. 3 which explains a flow chart, the state parameter processing means A and the operation request processing means B are realized by the execution, within a microcomputer, of a flow of the state parameter processes (a to g in FIG. 3) for imparting to each state parameter a chronometrically fluctuating trend set peculiarly to each state parameter as well as a fluctuating trend in terms of operation properties responsive to an operation responsive to the request via an input device by a player and by the execution, within a microcomputer, of a flow of operation request processing (h to j in FIG. 3) for deciding that the predetermined state parameters meet the predetermined requirements for an operation request to carry out a certain operation display.
The above-described state parameter processing comprises a xe2x80x9csatietyxe2x80x9d parameter process (a in FIG. 3) for receiving an input of an operation for xe2x80x9cmealxe2x80x9d responsive to the request to impart an incremental trend in operation properties to a xe2x80x9csatietyxe2x80x9d parameter against a chronometrically decremental trend thereof, a xe2x80x9cpleasurexe2x80x9d parameter process (b in FIG. 3) for receiving an input of the operations for xe2x80x9cmealxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cplayxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cstudyxe2x80x9d responsive to the request to impart an incremental trend in operation properties to a xe2x80x9cpleasurexe2x80x9d parameter against a chronometrically decremental trend thereof, a xe2x80x9cwisdomxe2x80x9d parameter process (c in FIG. 3) for receiving an input of an operation for xe2x80x9cstudyxe2x80x9d responsive to the request to impart an incremental trend in operation properties to a xe2x80x9cwisdomxe2x80x9d parameter against a chronometrically decremental trend thereof, an xe2x80x9cagexe2x80x9d parameter process (d in FIG. 3) for imparting a chronometrically incremental trend to an xe2x80x9cagexe2x80x9d parameter to clock a retaining period for a category at every rearing stage, a xe2x80x9cweightxe2x80x9d parameter process (e in FIG. 3) for receiving an input of the operations for xe2x80x9cmealxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cplayxe2x80x9d to impart an incremental trend in operation properties to a xe2x80x9cweightxe2x80x9d parameter against a chronometrically incremental trend thereof, a xe2x80x9cmetamorphosisxe2x80x9d parameter process (f in FIG. 3) in which a xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter described later is internally input to calculate an xe2x80x9cmetamorphosisxe2x80x9d parameter, and a xe2x80x9cphysical conditionxe2x80x9d parameter process (g in FIG. 3), in which both xe2x80x9csatietyxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cweightxe2x80x9d parameters previously described are internally input, for receiving an input of an operation for xe2x80x9cmedicationxe2x80x9d responsive to the request to impart an incremental trend in operation properties to the xe2x80x9cphysical conditionxe2x80x9d parameter while an internal incremental trend is imparted thereto.
The above-described operation request processing comprises an operation request process in xe2x80x9chungerxe2x80x9d (h in FIG. 3) for deciding that a xe2x80x9csatietyxe2x80x9d parameter meets the requirements for an operation request in reference to an operation request in xe2x80x9chungerxe2x80x9d to carry out an operation display in terms of xe2x80x9chungerxe2x80x9d, an operation request process xe2x80x9cdispleasurexe2x80x9d (i in FIG. 3) for deciding that a xe2x80x9cdispleasurexe2x80x9d parameter meets the requirements for an operation request in reference to an operation request in xe2x80x9cdispleasurexe2x80x9d to carry out an operation request display in terms of xe2x80x9cdispleasurexe2x80x9d, an operation request process xe2x80x9csicknessxe2x80x9d (j in FIG. 3) for deciding that a xe2x80x9cphysical conditionxe2x80x9d parameter meets the requirements for an operation request in reference to an operation request in xe2x80x9csicknessxe2x80x9d to carry out an operation request display in terms of xe2x80x9csicknessxe2x80x9d.
The invention of claim 1 is furthermore constituted such that as shown in FIG. 3 which explains a flowchart, rearing stage processing means D is realized by the execution, within a microcomputer, of a flow of a rearing stage process (m in FIG. 3) for deciding any one of some metamorphosis requirements is fulfilled, which requirements vary depending on a xe2x80x9cmetamorphosisxe2x80x9d parameter produced by a xe2x80x9cmetamorphosisxe2x80x9d parameter process and a xe2x80x9cmetamorphosis reference valuexe2x80x9d set peculiarly to a category of the present rearing stage at the time when an incremental xe2x80x9cagexe2x80x9d parameter produced by an xe2x80x9cagexe2x80x9d parameter process (d in FIG. 3) among the state parameter processes (a to g in FIG. 3) reaches an xe2x80x9cage for promoting a categoryxe2x80x9d to select the sole category of a next rearing stage corresponding to the metamorphosis requirement fulfilled above out of a plurality of categories lodged in the next rearing stage which categories are arranged in such a manner that each category corresponds to each metamorphosis requirement and prepared by the total number of the metamorphosis requirements.
By the rearing stage processing as described above, a so-called fatal tie that the sole category of the present rearing stage is grown to the sole category of the next rearing stage is creatively broken, and the development of the category in the next rearing stage is variegated depending on the xe2x80x9cmetamorphosisxe2x80x9d parameter also so that the xe2x80x9cmetamorphosisxe2x80x9d parameter is placed under the control of a player by various operations to facilitate the reflection of efforts and intentions of a player on the development of the rearing stage of the virtual living thing. In this sense, the xe2x80x9crearing stagexe2x80x9d termed herein is different from the xe2x80x9cgrowing stagexe2x80x9d termed in prior art.
Next, according to a second aspect of this invention in order to solve the subjects as described above, the inventions of claims 2, 3 and 4 are claimed. The invention of claim 2 is constituted such that as shown in FIG. 1 corresponding to the claims, the state parameter processing means A increases and decreases a xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter representative of a degree of xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d administered to the virtual living thing according to the completeness of the operations responsive to the requests by a player, also carries out xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9ccharacterxe2x80x9d parameter process for increasing and decreasing a xe2x80x9ccharacterxe2x80x9d parameter controlling requirements for an operation request of the virtual living thing based on the xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter and a xe2x80x9cbasic value of categoryxe2x80x9d set peculiarly to a category of the virtual living thing at every rearing stage, and the operation request processing means B carries out an operation request for a predetermined item when the predetermined requirements for the operation request are fulfilled on the state parameters controlled depending on the xe2x80x9ccharacterxe2x80x9d parameter.
Further, the invention of claim 2 is constituted such that as shown in FIG. 3 explaining a flowchart, the operation request processing means B is realized by the execution, within a microcomputer, a flow of a xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter process (k in FIG. 3) for calculating a xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter based on a xe2x80x9csatietyxe2x80x9d parameter value in a xe2x80x9csatietyxe2x80x9d parameter process (a in FIG. 3) and a xe2x80x9cpleasurexe2x80x9d parameter value in a xe2x80x9cpleasurexe2x80x9d parameter process (b in FIG. 3), a flow of a xe2x80x9ccharacterxe2x80x9d parameter process (l in FIG. 3) in which a xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter value calculated thereat, that is, a parameter value representative of a degree of xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d administered by a player to the virtual living thing by means of an operation for xe2x80x9cmealxe2x80x9d responsive to the request in a xe2x80x9csatietyxe2x80x9d parameter process (a in FIG. 3) and the operations for xe2x80x9cmealxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cplayxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cstudyxe2x80x9d responsive to the request in a xe2x80x9cpleasurexe2x80x9d parameter process (b in FIG. 3) is internally reflected, and some corrections irrespective good or bad are made to a xe2x80x9cbasic value of categoryxe2x80x9d representative of a character peculiar to the category of the predetermined rearing stage according to the degree of xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d to calculate a xe2x80x9ccharacterxe2x80x9d parameter representative of a resultant character corrected, and a flow of an operation request process in xe2x80x9cdispleasurexe2x80x9d (i in FIG. 3) for deciding that the requirements for an operation request of xe2x80x9cdispleasurexe2x80x9d controlled by the xe2x80x9ccharacterxe2x80x9d parameter also are fulfilled to carry out an operation request display in terms of xe2x80x9cdispleasurexe2x80x9d.
It is possible for a player to experience the dramatic rearing circumstances of the virtual living thing which show similarity to what people are experienced in and accustomed to through the infant education and pet taming in the way that by having recourse to the operation request process in xe2x80x9cdispleasurexe2x80x9d depending on the xe2x80x9ccharacterxe2x80x9d parameter as described above, the better the degree of the xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d by a player, the character of the category of the virtual living thing is turned into good, and the frequency of occurrence of the operation request display in terms of xe2x80x9cdispleasurexe2x80x9d is decreased by the equivalent amount, and conversely thereto, the worse the degree of the xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d by a player, the character of the category of the virtual living thing is turned into worse, and the frequency of occurrence of the operation request display in terms of xe2x80x9cdispleasurexe2x80x9d is increased by the equivalent amount.
In this case, also with regard to a display of the state parameters secured by a rearing state display process (n in FIG. 3) and a display of the categories of the present rearing stage, other than the operation request displays in terms of xe2x80x9cdispleasurexe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9chungerxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cmedicationxe2x80x9d, the displays seen here likewise greatly contribute to realization of the dramatic rearing circumstances of the virtual living thing which show similarity to what people are accustomed from a viewpoint that a player could be.motivated by the intended selection of the items for the operations responsive to the request and the active operations for the same items which items are advantageous in terms of a game of the rearing simulation among various items.
The invention of claim 3 is constituted such that as shown in FIG. 1, the state parameter processing means A increases and decreases a xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter representative of a degree of xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d administered to the virtual living thing according to the completeness of the operations responsive to the requests by a player, and also carries out xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cmetamorphosisxe2x80x9d parameter process for calculating an xe2x80x9cmetamorphosisxe2x80x9d parameter controlling the metamorphosis requirements based on the xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter; and the rearing stage processing means D selects one category out of a plurality of categories lodged in a next rearing stage based on the metamorphosis requirements which are influenced by a metamorphosis parameter at present and a metamorphosis reference value set peculiarly to the category of a present rearing stage to promote the virtual living thing to a next rearing stage.
Further, according to the constitution of the invention as set forth in claim 3, the state parameter processing means A is realized by the execution, within a microcomputer, of a flow of a xe2x80x9cmetamorphosisxe2x80x9d parameter process combined with a xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter process in which as shown in FIG. 3 explaining a flowchart, a xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter calculated by a xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter process (k in FIG. 3) is internally reflected to calculate in a xe2x80x9cmetamorphosisxe2x80x9d parameter process (f in FIG. 3) a metamorphosis parameter which increases and decreases depending on a degree of the xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d by a player. As a result, the rearing stage processing means D is realized by the execution, within a microcomputer, of a flow of the rearing stage process which decides that any one out of a plurality of the metamorphosis requirements stipulated in a contrasting relation between the xe2x80x9cmetamorphosisxe2x80x9d parameter calculated under the influence of the xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d by a player and the xe2x80x9cmetamorphosis reference valuexe2x80x9d peculiar to a category of a present rearing stage, to select one category out of a plurality of categories in the next rearing stage.
By means of the connection between the xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cmetamorphosisxe2x80x9d parameter process and the rearing stage process as described above, the xe2x80x9cbasic value of categoryxe2x80x9d to be input in a xe2x80x9ccharacterxe2x80x9d parameter process (l in FIG. 3) can be arranged in correspondence to a plurality of categories in the next rearing stage so that the better the degree of xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d by a player, the more favorable category in character is selected as the category in the next rearing stage of the virtual living thing. By doing so, it is possible for a player to experience the rearing circumstances of the virtual living thing which arouse his sympathy in the light of people""s view of life that they are recompensed for the care sufferings.
The invention of claim 4 is constituted such that as shown in FIG. 1 corresponding to the claims, the rearing stage processing means D uniquely selects a veiled category out of a plurality of categories loaded in the next rearing stage to promote the virtual living thing to the next rearing stage, when the state parameters meet the requirements for a veiled rearing stage which are met rarely in comparison with the metamorphosis requirements.
Further, according to the above-described constitution of the invention of claim 4, the rearing stage processing means D is realized by the execution, within a microcomputer, of a flow of the rearing stage process, which is provided with the condition of the unique veiled rearing stage defined by unusual combined numerical values of state parameters other than the metamorphosis requirements depending on the xe2x80x9ccarexe2x80x9d parameter, so as to select the veiled category in the veiled rearing stage as the category in the next rearing stage as far as the condition of the veiled rearing stage is fulfilled.
By means of the rearing stage process including the veiled rearing stage process as described above, the requirements for the veiled rearing stage can be fixed so that an encounter with the unexpected and unusual veiled category that is rarely influenced by intentions or efforts of a player is expected. By doing so, it is possible for a player to experience the rearing circumstances which can be convinced of his acceptance in the light of people""s experience of life telling much about an encounter with the good fortune such as a xe2x80x9cwindfallxe2x80x9d.
According to a third aspect of this invention in order to solve the subjects as described above, the inventions of claims 5 and 6 are claimed. The invention of claim 5 is constituted such that as shown in FIG. 1 corresponding to the claims, an egg data receiving means F receives the data on the egg of the virtual living thing via a communication network, and the rearing stage processing means D replaces whole or a part of a plurality of categories lodged in each of one or a plurality of rearing stages with other categories identified by the received data on the egg of the virtual living thing, and selects one category out of a plurality of categories lodged in the next rearing stage, including the above-described other categories replaced to promote the virtual living thing to the next rearing stage.
Further, according to the invention of claim 5, the rearing processing means D is realized by the execution, within a microcomputer, of a flow of the rearing stage process such that a rearing stage table is switched to a separate rearing stage table viz, each of respective rearing tables which corresponds to the data on an egg of the virtual living thing. The rearing stage table readably stores a set of data arranged separately with respect to respective ones of plural categories at every succeeding rearing stage, based on the data on the egg of the virtual living thing received through the egg data receiving means F from a rearing simulation control station on the communication network at the initial portion of the rearing stage and arranged to define the basic generic character of the subject category, for example, such as xe2x80x9cbasic value of categoryxe2x80x9d influencing the basic value of the xe2x80x9ccharacterxe2x80x9d parameter, xe2x80x9cmetamorphosis reference valuexe2x80x9d influencing the metamorphosis requirements, xe2x80x9cthe age for promoting a categoryxe2x80x9d identifying a retaining period, xe2x80x9ca plurality of selectable categories in the next rearing stagexe2x80x9d and so on.
By means of the rearing stage process including the switching process of the rearing stage table as described above, player""s curiosity to the virtual living thing itself is greatly burned by the unexpected development of the rearing simulation caused by a variety of encounters with a separate virtual living thing expressed in terms of a piece of separate xe2x80x9cheredity informationxe2x80x9d among a number of virtual living things each of which is expressed in terms of the whole of the selectable categories at every rearing stage possessing a common generic character influenced by the information from an unknown egg to be called, say, xe2x80x9cheredity informationxe2x80x9d, based on the data on the egg of the virtual living thing prepared in a state not open to the public in the rearing simulation control station. In this case, in connection with the rearing simulation control station 2C on the communication network, this is used in common for the same type of plural rearing simulation apparatuses 2B arranged on the communication network whereby the range of game processes is extended to the communication network also.
The invention of claim 6 is constituted such that as shown in FIG. 1 corresponding to the claims, a living thing data transmitting and receiving means G transmits and receives the data on the virtual living thing including the data representative of the categories via a communication network. Further, according to the above-described constitution of the invention of claim 6, the living thing data transmitting and receiving means G is realized by the execution, within a microcomputer, of a flow of rearing stage process, wherein in the rearing stage process, the data handled to specify a basic generic character of the category at every rearing stage of the virtual living thing, for example, an address assigned to the subject category on the rearing stage table and a table identity data for identifying the subject rearing stage table itself are input and output to be capable of being transmitted and received via the communication network.
By transmitting and receiving the data on the virtual living thing between the rearing simulation apparatus and the rearing simulation control station via the communication network described above, the data on the virtual living thing with respect to a specific category thereof, after having been processed to be transmitted in the rearing simulation apparatus is transmitted to the rearing simulation control station to be converted at that end to the data on the same virtual living thing, however, with respect to another specific category thereof. The converted data is received and processed at the rearing simulation apparatus end to gain access to another rearing stage per se and another specific category on the rearing stage table identified by the data received and processed in the rearing stage process thereat to facilitate the succession of the instant rearing stage process based on the converted data. By doing so, further the unexpectedness is brought forth to a player by the bilateral expansion of the range of the rearing simulation game over the communication network.